Li Xuan and Yu'er were startled simultaneously.
Following Princess Ankang's strokes, they indeed found corresponding characters on the square ice block.
However, there was no special pattern between these characters; they looked like a haphazard sequence.
They truly didn't know if Princess Ankang's ability to find such a piece of information among so many characters was due to her extreme perceptiveness or simply good luck.
After Princess Ankang pointed out these characters, Li Xuan and Yu'er couldn't take their eyes off them.
Many characters were scattered across the square ice, but at this moment, their eyes only saw that one sentence.
"The one who catches the true culprit wins!"
It seemed that today's competition also hid a condition that could lead to direct victory.
"True culprit?"
Li Xuan silently mumbled these two words, glancing around the Ice Cellar.
Besides the Imperial children participating in the competition, there were also their close attendants.
Beyond that, there was only Zhao Feng.
Li Xuan suddenly realized that there wasn't even a single Flower-Clothed Eunuch in the competition venue today.
The person responsible for presiding over the competition and maintaining order was surprisingly only Zhao Feng.
Looking back at the tightly shut iron door of the Ice Cellar, Li Xuan couldn't help but guess:
"Could the murderer be in here?"
This thought alone startled Li Xuan, and Yu'er beside him also became visibly tense, clearly having thought of the same thing.
"Your Highness, doesn't that mean…"
Yu'er swallowed, asking Princess Ankang in a whisper.
Princess Ankang, however, was not afraid and calmly nodded.
Li Xuan thought about it and felt that it definitely wouldn't be any of the Imperial Princes and Princesses.
If one of them were the culprit, they would have a significant advantage in this competition.
To be fair, it was just a palace maid's life; if the winning condition was merely to catch the true culprit, someone would probably have confessed by now.
Of course, perhaps the culprit had a different winning condition.
But no matter what, simply being the culprit gave them a considerable advantage over others.
Li Xuan felt even more strongly that the culprit might be among their close attendants or Zhao Feng.
After all, that would be more logical.
But in that case, wouldn't they still need to search for clues and deduce?
At this moment, the Imperial Princes and Princesses surrounding the palace maid dispersed, each going to other parts of the Ice Cellar to search for clues.
After the previous chaos, with the absence of the troublesome children, it was much calmer.
"Sister Yu'er, let's go take a look too."
Princess Ankang proactively said.
It seemed she was also interested in the murder case before them.
Yu'er pushed Princess Ankang forward, walking towards the palace maid's body.
The other Imperial Princes and Princesses seemed focused on their own tasks, but upon noticing Princess Ankang's movement, they couldn't help but be somewhat distracted by her.
Princess Ankang arrived beside the body and leaned down to look.
The palace maid's face was covered in frost, making it almost impossible to discern her features.
But it was still faintly discernible that she was very young, looking to be in her early twenties.
Her clothes were frozen solid with her, showing no signs of disarray.
The palace maid lay stiffly on the ground like an icicle.
Such a young life, frozen to death in the Ice Cellar, was truly a pity.
Li Xuan sighed, feeling sorry for the palace maid.
At this moment, Princess Ankang took out her handkerchief, unfolded it, and gently covered the palace maid's face.
This action caused others observing Princess Ankang to frown.
Especially some of the older Imperial Princesses, their disgust for Princess Ankang was almost undisguised.
"What a show-off!"
"..."
The hushed whispers, feigning behind-the-back discussion, clearly reached Princess Ankang's ears, and naturally, they couldn't escape Li Xuan and Yu'er.
Li Xuan coldly swept his gaze over the Imperial Princesses who had spoken, committing their appearances to memory.
Sometimes, they would pretend to gossip behind one's back, speaking their most heartfelt, most vicious words to hurt others.
The harm caused by words was no less than that of fists; in many cases, it was even worse.
But Princess Ankang was used to it and naturally ignored those words.
She gently stroked Li Xuan in her arms and softly said, "Li Xuan, my mother consort used to tell me that when a person dies, they must close their eyes to return to the night sky and become a star."
"If they still look at this world, they will be unwilling to leave due to their attachment to the mortal realm."
"I hope Sister Palace Maid can also become a star."
Li Xuan stood up from Princess Ankang's embrace and rubbed his face against hers.
He knew that Princess Ankang must have been thinking of Consort Xiao.
"No wonder she isn't afraid of dead people…"
The first dead person Princess Ankang had seen was the being she cherished most in the world.
Perhaps, she felt that the palace maid before her was also someone's lifelong remembrance.
"My heart trembles with longing, my soul departs alone with attachment."
"Sister Yu'er, let's just make a round here and then bid farewell to Chief Zhao."
Princess Ankang had lost her interest and just wanted to see the Ice Cellar before leaving.
Since those Little Bean were already sent out of the Ice Cellar, it should be fine for her to voluntarily withdraw.
"Alright, Your Highness."
Yu'er nodded, happily agreeing.
She also didn't want Princess Ankang to stay here long.
Not to mention how cold it was, with a corpse lying nearby, it was truly not a suitable place to linger.
Seeing that Princess Ankang had no interest in the competition today, many people, including the First Imperial Prince, breathed a sigh of relief.
The previous two times, Princess Ankang had won inexplicably, which was enough to make them ache.
They were determined to win this competition and obtain the final prize.
So far, only the First Imperial Prince and Princess Ankang had received prizes from Emperor Yongyuan.
Moreover, the First Imperial Prince had even shared the prize with Princess Ankang.
Having witnessed the special treatment Princess Ankang received the first time she won a prize, others were naturally envious.
Zhao Feng stood on that square ice block, looked at the handkerchief covering the palace maid's face, then looked at Princess Ankang and her entourage leisurely strolling, and couldn't help but reveal a gentle smile.
However, he then couldn't help but sigh.
Li Xuan snuggled in Princess Ankang's arms, warming her while also exploring the Ice Cellar with her.
The Ice Cellar was very large, filled with neatly stacked ice blocks as far as the eye could see.
The place they were in earlier was located in the center of the Ice Cellar.
After walking for a while, they reached one of the Ice Cellar's walls.
Li Xuan turned his head and estimated the distance.
He found that the Ice Cellar's space was actually as large as one or two football fields.
This meant that the entire underground of Ju Han Palace was the Ice Cellar's space.
"No wonder it was so cold outside."
And this was just one of many Ice Cellar in the Imperial Palace.
From this, one could see how luxurious the Imperial family's life was.
Just to provide summer relief for the Imperial family, who knew how much manpower was expended every winter to store so much ice.
Li Xuan then realized how incredibly luxurious ancient refrigerators and air conditioners were.
"Insufficient technology, make up for it with resources."
Whether it was people or ice, to the Imperial family, there wasn't much difference; they were merely resources in their hands.
Today, the palace maid's body could brazenly become part of the competition, probably for the same reason.
Just as Li Xuan was lamenting the evils of feudal society, the corner of his eye seemed to catch something.
But when he turned to look, there was nothing but ice.
"Hmm?"
Li Xuan couldn't help but feel a little strange.
With his current ability, there was no possibility of him being mistaken.
Something had indeed been there just now, and it had slipped away when he wasn't paying attention.
Princess Ankang noticed Li Xuan in her arms staring in one direction without moving, and as she followed his gaze, she curiously asked:
"Li Xuan, is there something there?"
Li Xuan carefully checked the surroundings again, but indeed found nothing unusual, and finally could only shake his head helplessly.
Yu'er continued pushing them around the Ice Cellar.
But there was nothing to see here besides ice blocks.
However, the Three Little Ones didn't notice that in the gaps between the piled ice blocks, a pair of cold eyes were watching them.
Finally, the Three Little Ones only went halfway around the Ice Cellar before returning to the center.
The entire huge Ice Cellar was divided into four areas, with a cross-shaped wide path in the middle, and many narrower paths neatly arranged.
The palace maid's body had been located at the center of the cross-shaped path.
After walking half a circle, Li Xuan understood that the chances of the palace maid freezing to death here were not high.
Most likely, her body was dumped in the Ice Cellar.
Firstly, the palace maid's posture.
How could a person who froze to death lie stiffly on the ground? To resist the cold as much as possible during life, they would definitely curl up their body as much as possible to slow down heat loss.
Therefore, Little Bean's previous attempt was a failure.
Secondly, there was too much frost on the palace maid's body.
The temperature inside the Ice Cellar was indeed very low to prevent the ice blocks from melting.
But it wasn't cold to that extent.
According to Li Xuan's prediction, if someone wearing the palace maid's clothes were trapped here, they would most likely die from hypothermia, not be frozen into an icicle.
Li Xuan guessed that the palace maid might have been in a colder place before being moved here.
The Ice Cellar merely preserved the frost on the palace maid's body, rather than being the cause of its formation.
But Li Xuan had no clue how the palace maid died.
He even doubted whether there were enough clues in this Ice Cellar to deduce the palace maid's cause of death.
When Yu'er pushed Princess Ankang and Li Xuan back, the First Imperial Prince was submitting his answer to Zhao Feng.
However, unlike the Little Bean earlier, he covered his mouth with his hand, leaned close to Zhao Feng's ear, and lowered his voice so that others couldn't hear.
This was reasonable; if his deduction were heard by others, it might inspire their ideas, thus doing someone else's work for them.
But this method seemed to be ineffective against Li Xuan.
Li Xuan was a cat, his hearing was extraordinary, and he could understand human speech.
Although he only heard the last few sentences because he arrived late, Li Xuan did hear an interesting conclusion.
The First Imperial Prince's answer was surprisingly poisoning.
Li Xuan hadn't heard the First Imperial Prince's earlier words, but he heard him say at the end that the palace maid had died of poisoning.
"That's rare."
Li Xuan looked at the palace maid, frozen stiff on the ground, and couldn't see any signs of poisoning.
But given the First Imperial Prince's character, he certainly wouldn't guess randomly; he must have his basis.
He watched the First Imperial Prince, who gracefully stepped down from the square ice block after telling Zhao Feng his answer, and immediately felt immensely curious.
He was truly curious about the First Imperial Prince's basis.
Li Xuan jumped out of Princess Ankang's arms, but when he landed, he almost slipped on the ground because of his small cotton shoes, only managing to steady himself thanks to his agile movements.
However, these few stumbles inevitably looked a bit comical, amusing several Imperial Princes and Princesses nearby.
Regardless of whether they held ill will towards Princess Ankang, they were all extremely curious about Li Xuan, the Little Black Cat.
Especially Princess Princess Yuan An, who had no interest in the competition and was only there to see Li Xuan; upon seeing this scene, she wished she could fiercely knead the Little Black Cat into her embrace.
As she thought this, her hand movements unconsciously intensified, causing Bai Xiao to shriek in pain.
"Meow!"
Princess Princess Yuan An reacted, quickly apologizing and coaxing Bai Xiao in her arms.
Li Xuan didn't care about others' reactions.
He took two steps, and after getting used to the small cotton shoes on his feet, he pattered over to the palace maid's body.
The handkerchief on the body's face was untouched, and her clothes were frozen solid, showing no signs of an autopsy.
"Huh, then how did the First Imperial Prince know it was poisoning?"
Li Xuan, not believing it, carefully examined it, and indeed found something.
He discovered two small purple dots in the hairline behind the palace maid's ear.
The purple dots were identical in size and shape, arranged in a straight line, and hidden within the strands of hair.
Fortunately, the palace maid's hair was also frozen stiff and fixed in place, otherwise, these two purple dots would have been very difficult to find.
"Is this the First Imperial Prince's basis?"